File Format

Encase uses a proprietary format for images which is reportedly based on ASR Data's Expert Witness Compression Format. (Source?) The evidence files, or E01 files, contain a physical bitstream of an acquired disk, prefixed with a '"Case Info" header, interlaced with CRCs for every block of 64 sectors~(32 KB), and followed by a footer containing an MD5 hash for the entire bitstream. Contained in the header are the date and time of acquisition, an examiner's name, notes on the acquisition, and an optional password; the header concludes with its own CRC.

Features

File Systems Understood

File Search Facilities

Historical Reconstruction

Can it build timelines and search by creation date?

Searching Abilities

Can it search? Does it build an index? Can it focus on file types or particular kinds of metadata?